Preserve history

To the editor:

Time will reveal the impact of our City Council’s deactivation of the Bainbridge Island Historic Preservation Committee. What does not fade from any community are the stories told by our elders, contributions our predecessors have made, and those BI structures built long ago that still remain as beacons of ingenuity and hope. We citizens are a testament to the farmers, fishermen, loggers and business people who settled here to build this place we treasure.

Tom and I are the owners of The Laurels, a gracious neighborhood icon that we purchased in 2018. We collaborated with the COBI Historic Preservation Committee, COBI Planning Department and staff to place our home on the COBI Historic Register in 2020. That process involved extensive research as well as dedicated restoration.

Our interest in the home’s history, stories I learned from former owners, BI historians, and, quite simply, people who walked by as I trimmed the laurel hedging, have built a deep appreciation in the legacy of our home. The Laurels was built ca. 1913 with hand labor and tools using locally sourced materials by people who lived and worked together here. Its beautiful stone arch greets friends and passers-by; its heritage apple trees and welcoming front porch have made it home for the families who have lived here.

History is vital to each of us who live on BI. How we all move forward together should always reflect what has come before us that is positive and necessary in our lives.

Myra A. Hudson

Bainbridge

Why 11,000?

To the editor:

As several alternatives for managing Bainbridge Island growth are being discussed with the City Council apparently favoring the two with growth of 11,000 new residents by 2044, rather than the one for 4,524 new residents by that year (and which also conforms to the Growth Management Act requirement), there has been no mention of any advantage for having the high growth of 11,000.

Many islanders have conveyed legitimate concerns about the high-growth alternatives, but I have yet to hear the council articulate what the advantages are. Other than providing more tax revenue for the city — which I’m guessing the majority of current residents see as a major disadvantage— I see no benefit. Please City Council, articulate what your goals are for promoting such an inflated number when your constituents don’t want it and when it’s not legally required. That’s a simple question; we deserve to know.

Janice Harris

Bainbridge

Future leaders

To the editor:

For the past 20 years, Sakai Intermediate School has provided a program for their well-prepared students called “Leaving Our Island.” Those of us who have been impacted by the unconstitutional imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II are invited to participate by answering questions and telling our experiences.

As a 7-year-old Bainbridge Islander at that time, I have been one of many participants. This year has been my 20th time. And every year I receive a handmade thank you card from students in the classrooms where I was assigned. This year I received 27 handwritten cards. Here are excerpts from two of their cards, but are only examples of what the majority of students expressed.

“To meet someone who lived at the incarceration camps and to hear first-hand stories is so amazing. I am grateful to have met you and so many others. My generation needs to make sure this never happens again.”

“If I was alive during that point in history, I hope I would have been like the Woodwards and stood up for what was right. If we forget history, we are bound to repeat it, and we never want this to happen again.”

These wise sixth-graders will be our future leaders!

Lilly Kitamoto Kodama

Bainbridge